1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an acrylic resin laminated film, which resists whitening when subjected to a molding process and is excellent in surface hardness and flexibility, and to a laminated molding using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Acrylic resins are excellent in transparency, translucency, surface gloss and weather resistance and further have a high surface hardness and a superior design adaptability and hence find a wide variety of applications in interior materials for vehicles, exterior materials for household electrical appliances and building materials (exterior) for example, regardless of whether they are outdoor or indoor applications. However, acrylic resins generally exhibit poor flexibility and low impact resistance and therefore involve a problem that they are prone to fracture when given an extraneous load or impact. Accordingly, attempts are being made to impart flexibility to such an acrylic resin with its characteristics, such as transparency and surface gloss, maintained as they are by incorporating rubber particles into the acrylic resin. Depending upon the type or amount of such rubber particles incorporated to impart flexibility, there may be a case where the resulting acrylic resin does not have a sufficient surface hardness or where whitening of the acrylic resin takes place due to bending or stretching involved in a molding or forming process. Consequently, the inherent characteristics of the acrylic resin such as transparency, translucency, surface gloss, surface hardness and design adaptability are impaired, which undesirably brings a hindrance in the aforementioned applications such as interior or exterior materials and building materials.
The inventors of the present invention have made an intensive study in pursuit of developing an acrylic resin material that resists to whitening due to bending or stretching during a molding or forming process while maintaining flexibility.
As a result, they have found that, by combining a layer having a flexural modulus of about 1,300 MPa or less with a layer having a flexural modulus of about 1,800 MPa or more, it is possible to attain such an objective. Thus, the present invention has been accomplished.
That is, the present invention provides an acrylic resin laminated film comprising a soft layer formed of an acrylic resin incorporated with rubber particle and having a flexural modulus of about 1,300 MPa or less, and a hard layer formed of an acrylic resin having a flexural modulus of about 1,800 MPa or more on at least one side of the soft layer, wherein the hard layer has a thickness of about 0.1 to about 30 xcexcm and the ratio of the thickness of the hard layer to the overall thickness of the laminated film is about 50% or less.
This acrylic resin laminated film may be molded integrally with a thermoplastic resin into a laminated molding so that the hard layer thereof forms an outermost layer of the laminated molding. The laminated film has moderate surface hardness and flexibility and hence is capable of providing for a molding with less whitening when subjected to a molding process including bending or stretching. Further, when this acrylic resin laminated film may be laminated with other thermoplastic resin film and the resulting laminated film may be molded integrally with a thermoplastic resin into a laminated molding so that the hard layer thereof forms an outermost layer of the laminated molding, the resulting laminated film has moderate surface hardness and flexibility and hence is capable of providing for a molding with less whitening.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.